Childhood vaccines

[Holly9937]

Somehow this topic was brought up in another thread a while back and people had alot to say about it.... I'm due with my first in December and am beginning to do a little research on the topic. I would be interested to hear others opinions. If you have any links to information that would be great too.

Severe brain reactions, coma, seizures, death, deafness and brain damage are some of the "rare" side effects from the recommended vaccines. This information comes straight from the vaccine fact list on the CDC website. It does claim that it is not certain if the reactions are due to the vaccine or some other factor, but happened shortly after the vaccine was given.

I think thats a little scary, regardless of how small the risk is. I will probably hold off on getting the vaccines until the baby is a little older, and may not get a couple of them. Still researching though :read:

 

[Kasakato]

I would get them (all maybe). The risk is VERY small. And some of them are needed to get into school and stuff.

 

[Larissa]

Holly,

There is a small percentage of people who chose not to get thier children vaccines because of a small risk of side effects. I personally am pregnant with my third child, due in Sept. My second child was born with severe health problems. He is completely fed through a tube in his stomach because he can't swallow. Anyway, he's two and when he was 8 months old he caught the flu. He had actually gotten the flu shot but the first time you are vaccinated against the flu you must get two shots a month apart. Anyway, he got the first shot but they ran out before he could get the second shot, still they said he should get a milder case if he caught. Well, he almost died. I sat in the E.R. with him for hours and kept getting the brushoff before we left the hospital he went into heart and respiratory failure. The scary thing was that because he was so little the doctor had a lot of trouble putting the tube in his throat to hook him up to a venilator. Anyway, he survived but was hospitalized for several weeks. I know this is long but if he had gotten the flu shot that wouldn't have happened. Also, I asked his genetics doctor and a neuro doc about vaccines and they said, "Getting the diseases is much riskier than getting the shot." And that's how I feel. The small risk that may or may not be there is more likely with a live vaccine and they seem to be switching more to dead vaccines. Also, because some people have started not inoculating their kids we are seeing those diseases come back, like pertussis. I sure don't want my kids getting that. That stuff had been almost eradicated in the U.S. So, anyway, that's my soapbox.

 

[nursie]

Vaccinations were developed to protect society from life threatening illnesses. They are given to children as soon as possible to protect them as early in life as possible. Maybe to help your decision it would be helpful to review the diseases that are immunized against and what the aftereffects are of those illnesses:
Here is a link to the CDC reccomended immunization schedule. It varies state to state as to the requirements:
http://www.idph.state.il.us/about/2005child-schedule.pdf

I accessed it off of the Illinois Department of public health website. Check out the CDC website too.

There is a college in Missouri that children from a certain religious sect that didn't believe in vacinations attend. One fall they had an outbreak of measles. Kids died. That was entirely preventable if they'd have had their vaccinations.

There are children who genuinely do experience side effects of vaccines, I'm not saying they don't. The point that needs to be understood is that the percentage of risk of a negative outcome from one of these diseases is higher that experiencing negative side effects.

People say they had mumps...or measles and got over it with out ill effects. That can be true, and children can tolerate those easier than adults. But part of what immunization is about is protecting our population as a whole. If you have large numbers of people that are unvaccinated that live to adulthood it makes an epidemic more likely, and these diseases in adults are much much more serious, even life threatening. Immunization isn't just about protecting your individual child, but everyone.

Measles. mumps. rubella..whooping cough..polio.
Oh my God..to imagine Polio again rampant in this country because of people who don't want to get vaccinated is unthinkable. Absolutely unthinkable. Look up polio and read about the polio epidemics that used to be in the world and that alone should send you running to your childs doctor begging for imunizations.
Look up all the diseases on the CDC immunization page and read what can happen if your child gets some of these diseases either in childhood or later in life. If you could concoct a magic potient to protect your child to protect him from these things would you not do anything you could to get it for them Even if their was a risk? You bet.

I have 2 kids and I didn't hesitate for a moment. They had febrile reactions, and yes they are crankey and don't feel well after they get them. A small price to pay. Are their risks of greater side effects? To every medical treatment there is. Something as simple as an aspirin can cause anaphlyactic shock and death. It can cause profound life threatening bleeding. Nothing is without risk.

I read the last thread about this topic and stayed out, becasue it's pointless to argue with people that have their minds made up against something. These are the people who will be responsible for reocurrences of these diseases becasue of refusal to vaccinate their children. I'm responding to you because you are at least looking into it. I would not delay adhearing to the vaccination schedule. You run the risk of the baby getting something avoidable if you wait.

 

[Larissa]

I do realize that when it comes to your child even the remote possibility that something could hurt your kid is pretty scary. I don't think it's fair to rely on the fact that maybe your child who is not immunized won't get this disease because so many other kids have their shots. Not that that's what you're doing, some people have that mindset though. "Well, everyone else's kids have their mmr shots so my kid probably won't catch the measles." for example. By the way, do you know what you're having? Oh, and Kas was right, in most states, it's pretty hard to get your kids in school without their shots. You'd probably have to homeschool.

 

[greendeltatke]

My oldest son is mildly autistic. About ten years ago parents of autistic kids were very interested in exploring a a link between autsim and the MMR vaccine based on their own anecdotal experiences. Well, large-scale study after study has been done and there is no such link. Many of these parents have refused to concede the point though. They put a lot of time, money and emotion into the anti-vaccine cause and they are not willing to give it up. I guess I'm young enough to have missed out on the fray. I vaccinated my younger son without hesitation.

 

[Calico Goat]

Personally, I'd rather endure two seconds of pain and being a wuss about the needle than get something annoying, catching, and possibly very dangerous. And in my own humble opinion, I believe that the autism-vaccination people are just unwilling to concede that they gave out a funky set of genes.

Immediate Edit: Sorry sorry sorry Greendeltatke, I missed the first sentence of your post... I know that autism is no laughing matter. Anything like that isn't, really...

 

[Puffernewbee]

Life is full of risks. The odds of the child catching the disease are much worse than the chances of having some kind of reaction to the vaccine. I did not think twice about getting my daughters shots.

 

[HomerJay]

Both of my daughters have been vaccinated, and the worst side effect they had was a red spot where the injection was given...I think it's worse on the parents in most cases. My wife cried worse than my daughter. :sim:

 

[greendeltatke]

Calico goat, that okay, autism is genetically linked. I had a great uncle who fits all the descriptions of an autistic savant. My son Ray is much less affected. He is in a special-ed class because of his frustration problems, but his future looks really good. I'm very grateful to the generation of parents before me. They might have been wrong on the vaccination issue but they fought like hell for educational advancements like early intervention. With more hard work and luck Ray is going to come out of high school passing as a garden variety geek.